A Church of England decision to accept gay marriage would be absolutely catastrophic for Christians in troubled countries, the Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday.

Anglicans in countries such as South Sudan, Nigeria and Pakistan are in danger as a result of liberal positions taken by the leaders of churches in the west, he said.

The Most Reverend Justin Welby said he had visited a grave containing 369 bodies in South Sudan, where some people believed if we leave a Christian community here we will all be made to become homosexual and so we will kill all the Christians. [ ]

The Archbishop said gay rights was really not a simple issue and added: Its something that I wrestle with every day and often in the middle of the night.

We have to listen incredibly carefully to the LGBT communities here and we have to look at the tradition of the Church, and the teaching of the Church, and the teaching of scripture, which is definitive in the end, before we come to a conclusion.

Let me get this straight: third-world Christians will be killed because third-world non-Christians believe that non-third-world Christians’ acceptance of homosexuality will turn third-world non-Christians into homosexuals?

Personally, I think the Catholic church should found a Christian paradiplomatic brigade, not for violent conflict, if it can be avoided, but to aid Christian communities around the world facing oppression from those that surround them, or even outright extermination. They would do mostly three things:

1) Provide advice to those communities on how to protect themselves, so it is less likely they will need to defend themselves. This can be a multitude of things, reducing their “opportunity for vulnerability” a lot. Much of this would be common sense to us, such as “do not allow your daughters to date Muslim boys, or be alone with Muslims without substantial numbers of Christians present.”

2) Design physical barriers to make entry to and exit from the Christian community more difficult. This can include channelization, so an entire mob cannot charge into the community all at once. Arrange parking around churches to make them less vulnerable to car bombs. There can even be “spiritual barriers”, where pigs and dogs abide.

3) Provide communications equipment so they can let outside supporters know quickly if they are endangered or are under attack, that might give them all sorts of possible forms of help.

Importantly, a lot of Christian communities in Africa, both Catholic and Anglican, are under attack, and an organization like this could promote a lot of understanding and appreciation between the two.

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